


A Dinosaur, A Baby, And The Koopas Who Meddled With Time

by CaptainJZH



Category: Super Mario & Related Fandoms, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Genre: Gen, Origin Story, Pre-Canon, Prequel, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 18:07:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19339804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJZH/pseuds/CaptainJZH
Summary: Concept: What if the reason Kamek wanted the Mario Bros. in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was because he was sent back in time by Bowser to kill his foes before they were delivered to their parents?This fic answers that question.





	A Dinosaur, A Baby, And The Koopas Who Meddled With Time

Bowser plopped himself down on his throne, sighing in defeat. His plan had foiled yet again by that  _ stupid  _ Mario… Every time, Mario was there to beat him! Kidnap Peach, Mario’s there. Take over Peach’s castle, Mario’s there. Heck, if it wasn’t Mario it was his brother Luigi! Bowser wished those plumber had never been born…

 

Bowser paused, raising a claw to his chin. He had an idea.

 

\---

 

Kamek sat in his chambers, meditating. Things were quiet and peaceful in the stone-clad room, filled only by the idle burning of torches on the walls. Kamek was happy.

 

_ “KAMEK!”  _ Bowser shouted as he burst into the room, utterly destroying the doorway, which they had just remodeled.

 

Kamek sighed. “Yes, My Lord?”

 

“I have an idea of how to beat Mario!”

 

“My Lord, that’s what you said the last time.”

 

“Well  _ yeah,  _ but this one will work!”

 

Kamek stood up, adjusting his glasses. “Well, I am listening.”

 

Bowser entered the room, knocking over most of Kamek’s stuff. “Okay! So you know how I usually brood in the throne room after getting my butt kicked?”

 

“Yes, sir, we know.”

 

“Well, I was thinking, and like, I thought, like, what if Mario was never born? And I thought, like, how do you do that? And then I thought of you!”

 

“How thoughtful,” Kamek remarked, idly inspecting the back of his palm.

 

“So...can you use magic to make it so Mario was never born?”

 

Kamek wanted to laugh, but he suddenly found himself giving the idea some serious thinking. Was there a spell powerful enough to negate a person’s entire existence? He rushed over to his bookshelf and flipped through a well-worn spellbook. “Ah  _ ha!”  _ Kamek exclaimed, slamming his finger down on the page. “Theoretically, it can be done!”

 

“How?!” Bowser eagerly asked.

 

“Well, it’s not a direct ‘kill Mario’ spell…”

 

“Dang it!”

 

“But, it  _ is  _ possible to go back in time with it!”

 

“Oh?”

 

“If someone travelled back far enough, it would be possible for them to intercept Mario and Luigi prior to their birth, and…” Kamek made a strangling motion around his neck, making Bowser’s eyes widen in shock.

 

“I’m not gonna kill a baby!” Bowser told the wizard, offended that he would suggest such a thing.

 

Kamek paused. “...two babies?”

 

A beat passed. “Deal.”

 

\---

 

Kamek stood around a boiling cauldron, cooking up his time travel potion. He turned to the spellbook, reading through more ingredients. It was all very straight-forward, except…  _ Oh no. _

 

_ Fine Print. _

 

He needed to tell King Bowser.  _ Immediately. _

 

\---

 

In his throne room, Bowser was trying on suitable “time travel outfits.” Does one dress nice when travelling to the recent past? Or is it a more casual affair? Bowser couldn’t decide. So he let his son decide for him.

 

“Are you sure about this?” Bowser asked as he changed.

 

“Yeah! It’s what everyone was wearing 30 years ago!” Bowser Jr. said, idly floating in his Junior Clown Car.

 

Bowser emerged dressed in a red jacket vest, suspenders and  _ far _ too much denim. Also it was several sizes too small. “I don’t think this is working,” Bowser said before being interrupted by a  _ very  _ exhausted Kamek.

 

“Apologies, My Lord,” the wizard said, “but there’s been a complication.”

 

\---

 

“So what you’re saying is I  _ can’t  _ go back in time and kill Mario?!” Bowser bellowed.

 

“Well in a manner of speaking, yes, but—”   
  


“But what?!”

 

“We can still send  _ someone else  _ back in time… It just can’t be you. First off, at the time of Mario and Luigi’s delivery, you were a wee lad. And unfortunately, you cannot go to a time when you already existed.”

 

Bowser grumbled a bit, but listened further.

 

“Secondly, the spell is a one way trip. Once you’re there, you’re stuck unless you can cast it again yourself. And this one requires a high level magic user… Such as myself.”

 

“Then you go.”

 

_ “What?” _

 

Bowser pointed his finger at Kamek. “You go! Kill Mario and Luigi for me! I’ll give you whatever you want!”

 

Kamek raised his eyebrow, intrigued. “Anything?”

 

“Anything! I just want those brothers  _ gone!” _

 

“I’m gonna hold you to that,” Kamek said, thinking up all the things he could request. Bowser had himself a deal.

 

\---

 

Intercepting Mario and Luigi was fairly effortless. The stork delivering them to their parents had an easily trackable flight path, which Kamek hit dead-on as he flew through the air. Only, there was a hitch. 

 

A “Bowser will literally kill me”-level hitch. While he was able to snag Luigi, baby Mario fell through his grasp, falling towards a small, familiar island below…

 

_ Crap. _

 

\---

 

Yoshi and his friends all gathered around, looking curiously at the small child that had fallen from the sky. None of them had ever seen a human before, let alone a baby. This one in particular had a red hat, and seemed to be drawn somewhere…

 

Perhaps he had a twin? It had been known that siblings often carried strong bonds with each other, and the baby having a twin would readily explain that. The Yoshis decided to help the child find his sibling and return to his parents, whatever the cost. Yoshi took a look inside the baby’s cap; his name was Mario.

 

\---

 

Suddenly, Yoshi realized that the island was far more dangerous than he had remembered. Death pit here, piranha plant there… And where were all these enemies coming from? As it turned out, Kamek — knowing that Mario would seek out his brother — laid traps across the island and fortified several old strongholds, on loan from the Koopa Kingdom of the day.

 

This made Yoshi  _ very  _ scared for Mario’s safety most of the time, because when he wasn’t nearly falling down pits or getting eaten, he was getting hit by the slightest thing, sending Mario floating away, crying for help. And more often than not, Yoshi got him back with less than a second to spare.

 

_ God,  _ Yoshi thought,  _ this kid is going to kill me. _

 

\---

 

Coincidentally, that is exactly what Kamek thought when he flew over and grabbed the young Prince Bowser from the then-fledgling Koopa Kingdom, hoping to use him against the Yoshis if it ever came to it.

 

Unfortunately, Bowser was not the best behaved child. Actually, he was horrible. Always screaming for attention, or smashing something for attention, or killing things for attention… In hindsight, him being a malevolent dictator should have been foreseen.

 

“I want  _ ice cream!” _ Bowser shouted, flailing his arms in the makeshift nursery.

 

“Well I left my confectionary spellbook in the future, so  _ tough!”  _

 

And then came the crying. Then again, adult Bowser usually did that.

 

By the end of the adventure, however, Yoshi managed to defeat the young Bowser as well as Kamek, thwarting his scheme and reuniting Mario with Luigi. The stork was freed, flying off to deliver the twins to their parents.

 

Yoshi smiled, satisfied with his good deed. 

 

\---

 

_ Dinosaur Land, 1991 _

 

Yoshi hid as his island was overrun by Koopa Troopas; Was this Bowser’s glorious return? He didn’t know, but he had to get help. Before he could, however, a familiar face popped out of the bushes and zapped him with a wand. 

 

“Well, well,” Kamek said, “I think you’d go quite nicely in an egg. Trapped inside a block, hehe.”

 

Yoshi didn’t know how long he was in the block, but he did know that when he was freed, it was like no other feeling in the world. To be brought back into the world after being sealed away from it…

 

“Hello!” a cheery, Italian voice said as Yoshi’s eyes opened. He saw a short, pudgy man in a red shirt and overalls standing before him, with a distinct red cap. No...it couldn’t be…

 

“It’s a-me, Mario!” he exclaimed. His brother Luigi, with a green cap and shirt, popped up behind him, waving. “The Princess has been kidnapped by Bowser! Could you help us get to him?”

 

Yoshi pulled the brothers into a hug. “Of course,” Yoshi said. “Of course I will.”

 

They had grown up so fast.


End file.
